Weekly Wednesday Message
August 27, 2014

Message from the Provost

The 2014-15 academic year has gotten off to a great start.

On Friday, about 950 people attended Convocation at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. Thanks to all who attended and officially welcomed President Jane Close Conoley to campus. Transcripts, photos and video of the event will be available on the Convocation website in the coming days.

We hired 58 outstanding new tenured and tenure-track faculty this year. (You can learn more about each of them throughout the year in the Wednesday Message.) According to a report by the Statewide Academic Senate, CSULB has more tenured/tenure-track faculty than any other CSU and more total full-time equivalent faculty, despite not being the largest CSU. We may have done more to protect resources for faculty during the difficult budget years than sister campuses.

CSULB proudly welcomed 36,816 students to campus this week, including 4,361 freshmen. This incoming class is 59 percent female; 38 percent Hispanic, 30 percent Asian/Pacific Islander; and 53 percent first-generation college students. Ninety six percent are from California and their average GPA is 3.52.

The top 10 majors freshmen are pursuing are:

Psychology

Biology

Criminology/Criminal Justice

Nursing

Kinesiology- Exercise Science

Mechanical Engineering

Computer Science

Business Management

Accounting

Marketing

Many of our new freshmen were born in 1996. You might want to turn to the Beloit College Mindset List for a look at the events and experiences that have shaped their worldview.

CSULB remains committed to ensuring that the University provides students with a valuable education as well as pathways to a successful future that includes a career, graduate school options, and appreciation of arts, sciences, and societies.

This year we have a great deal to be excited about. The campus has earmarked $2 million – a record amount of funding – to support research, scholarly and creative activity.

Academic Affairs is also launching a new initiative to provide more faculty development support for lecturers who contribute so much to our programs.

The Leadership Fellows Program is currently accepting applications for its second cohort. This year the professional development program is open to both faculty and staff.

Two new high tech classrooms will soon be available in Education. In spring four new classrooms will come online in the Liberal Arts buildings.

We are also bringing back a university tradition – the Legacy Lecture. Former President and Provost Donald J. Para will be the speaker at the October 9 event, which will also honor our retiring faculty.

The California Faculty Association and the CSU have agreed to extend the current Collective Bargaining Agreement until September 30. We are hopeful that there will be an agreement fairly soon.

Throughout the year we will keep you informed of issues impacting CSULB and higher education. We will also continue to highlight the many achievements of our faculty, staff and students. I hope that you will share with me your collective and individual accomplishments so that they can be included in the Wednesday Message and on our website.